A Biblical Political Manifesto

By Tom Snyder, Ph.D.

This Biblical Political Manifesto contains quotes and citations from the Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament documents. Though this is the case, I believe that the New Testament principles and citations herein don’t contradict what the Hebrew Scriptures, including the First Five Books of Moses, say and teach.

Prudent and wise thought and action in the cultural, social, economic, and political sphere should be a primary character trait of all people (see the Book of Proverbs, especially Proverbs 1:1-6, 8:12, 12:16, 14:15, and 22:3).

Human beings are full of sin, violence, disobedience, and evil (Genesis 8:21 and Romans 3:9-18).

Because human beings are full of sin, violence, disobedience, and evil, God’s Moral Order limits the power of the State, the power of the Church, the power of Civic Groups, the power of Commercial Interests or Business, and the power of the Individual (Romans 13). (For example, governments should not own churches, and governments must be run according to the principles of a representative democratic republic, a balance and separation of powers, enumerated powers, and due process (see the United States Constitution, which is based on biblical principles of government). Also, churches can’t execute people or put people into prison, but they do have the power to discipline their members, remove them from group worship, or even excommunicate them from the list of the faithful.)

Government rulers, officials, magistrates, ministers, and authorities should be servants of God who punish those who do evil deeds or acts and give praise or commendations to those who do good deeds or acts (Romans 13 and Deuteronomy 16:18-20).

The people of each nation should set up a system of representative government that elects and appoints government leaders, officials and judges (Deuteronomy 16:18-20).

The right to own private property is the basis for all political freedom and should not be abridged (Exodus 20). Thus, all people, including immoral people, criminals and unborn children, have a right to due process before their property, life or liberty are taken away.

The first duty of civilian government should be to protect the human life and property of its citizens and the sovereignty of its counties, states and nation from internal and external evildoers (Romans 13). Thus, criminal law is one of the first orders of business for any government.

Civilian governments can organize citizen militias, police departments, immigration agents, and military organizations, but these groups should not get involved in careless, reckless, costly, wasteful, or unwise foreign military adventures and/or complicated foreign alliances that don’t affect the security, freedom and sovereignty of the county, state or national entities (Romans 13).

Abortion is murder (Exodus 21:22-25, Job 31:15, Psalm 139:13, Isaiah 44:2, Leviticus 18:1-30) and must be outlawed by local, state and federal governments and their judicial systems.

Local governments should execute people who perform abortions or at least remove their license to practice human medicine of any kind and make them do some kind of community service according to the severity of their crime, because they are guilty of first or second degree murder (Exodus 20 and Numbers 35:31).

Mothers who get an illegal abortion are not guilty of first degree murder, but should be fined a significant amount of money, or put in a work program for 5-10 years, with part of the proceeds going to private crisis pregnancy clinics that help poor mothers carry their babies to term and that help married couples who wish to adopt children (Exodus 20 and Numbers 35:31).

If they have no record of mental incapacity, the right of all adults age 18 or older to own and bear firearms should be absolute. In fact, scientific studies have proven that gun control on firearms increases violent crime but private ownership of firearms helps prevent crime. Because God values truth, Christians should obey this truth about gun control versus gun ownership. As Exodus 22:2-3 says, “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.” So, clearly God allows for self-defense and ownership of guns and other weapons, but not for ruthless or wanton killing. Also, the action of self-defense must be appropriate too the circumstances and not excessive.

We must abolish all income and property taxes, reduce all other taxes (except perhaps tariffs) to less than 10 percent, and simplify or eliminate complicated laws (1 Samuel 8:15).

Leviticus 19:15 says, “Do not pervert justice; do not show favoritism to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” Also, in Deuteronomy 16:18-20, Moses tells the people of the Nation of Israel, “Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Follow justice and justice alone. . . .”

Culture and Family are vitally important, because they are established by the God of the Bible (Genesis 1:26-30). Therefore, governments should not destroy the family and cultural order established by God in the Bible. They should honor it.

Except for pornography and things like falsely yelling, “Fire!,” in a crowd, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom of religious belief and discussion for all citizens must be protected, because these rights come from God (see the Declaration of Independence). However, groups seeking to overthrow an elected government and its civil order (assuming there’s been no election fraud), such as a secret communist cabal or a terrorist cell, have no such rights if convicted of trying to overthrow a duly elected government and its civil order. Conversely, the ruling authorities have no right to order you to do something that violates a direct command of God, such as worship other gods or promote evil (see Deuteronomy 16:18-20, 13:6-8, Romans 13:1-2, and Daniel 6:7-10).

Local, state and federal governments should help protect married heterosexual families and their children from such things as violent crime and depictions of pornography, sexual nudity, media violence, and sexual perversion, including homosexuality (Philippians 4:8). These things are evil and dishonor God’s Transcendent Moral and Cultural Order. Thus, all government-run “public” schools and universities should be privatized immediately.

Victims of adultery deserve protection in family courts and divorce courts (Exodus 20 and Matthew 19:1-12).

Local, state and national governments should not be allowed to perform same-sex and/or perverted marriage ceremonies (Exodus 20, Leviticus 18:22, Matthew 19:1-12, and Mark 7:20-23).

Governments should not run education systems. Such a policy is clearly anti-biblical, anti-Christian, unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and anti-American. Local families, church leaders, businesspeople, and private charity groups should control their own education systems (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

Governments should not force taxpayers and citizens to give charitable gifts to the poor. Such a policy is clearly anti-biblical, anti-Christian, unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and anti-American (Deuteronomy 14:28, 29, Numbers 18:24, Matthew 6:1-4, and 1 Timothy 5:3-16).

Helping the poor and needy is the moral and religious responsibility of families, churches, private charities, and individuals, but not governments. Able-bodied poor people, however, bear the primary responsibility to take care of themselves and to take care of their own needy family members (Deuteronomy 14:28, 29, Numbers 18:24, Matthew 6:1-4, and 1 Timothy 5:3-16).

Everyone should commend hard work and reward it appropriately, but condemn laziness. As Proverbs 10:4 says, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” See also Proverbs 14:23, which states, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Thus, 2 Thessalonians 3:15 commands, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

Thus, the social welfare state in modern countries must be gradually but quickly dismantled and eliminated in favor of a system of private charity and hard work. In other words, The Family and Private Charity are the “Safety Net” for the poor and needy, not the State!

National and local communities have a right to control their borders and make laws regarding immigration. Immigrants must obey these laws or they will be deported. However, accepted, or “legal,” immigrants must be treated kindly, justly, equally, and hospitably. (For example, Exodus 22:21 orders people not to mistreat or oppress the legal aliens living among them, but Leviticus 18:26 also says the aliens living among us, including legal and illegal aliens, must obey God’s laws, including God’s Justice. Since illegal aliens in a representative capitalist republic have disobeyed the duly legislated laws of such a just republic, they have forfeited their right, and the right of their families, to remain in the country.)

Editor’s Note: A journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Dr. Snyder is editor of The Culture Watch. He has a BA in political science from Wright State University and a Ph.D. in Film Studies from Northwestern University, where he also studied comparative religion and politics and film. Dr. Snyder has written numerous news stories and other articles on politics, religion, film, economics, philosophy, and history. Author of MYTH CONCEPTIONS: JOSEPH CAMPBELL AND THE NEW AGE (Baker Books, 1995) and co-author of FRODO VS. HARRY (Crossway Books, 2003), he has done post-graduate work on Christian Apologetics, Philosophy and Politics at Simon Greenleaf University, Trinity Graduate University and the Mars Hill Christian Institute under numerous Christian scholars.